You would please open your Bibles to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, we'll be looking especially at the first four verses, but we're going to read it in the context of verses one through 13. Luke 11, this is God's word. One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. He said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. Then he said to them, suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, friend, lend me three loaves of bread. He's a friend of mine on a journey, has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. The one inside answers, don't bother me. The door is already locked and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. I tell you though, he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend. Yet because of the man's boldness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? May God add his blessing to this reading from his holy and inspired word. Now, this is one of several accounts of Jesus teaching his disciples this model prayer, but each one has its own context and its own emphasis, and I want us this morning to focus on the model prayer in these opening verses. The first thing I want you to see is that one day Jesus was praying. Now, why would he do that? He's God. Who's he talking to? He's talking to his father. Because Jesus isn't just God, he's also a man. God became a man in order to save us. And so when Jesus was praying, he was doing something that we need to do. If Jesus needed to pray, certainly we need to pray. And if that's not a major part of your life, then something's amiss. Things are not as they should be. So think about that as we look at this together. First of all, when Jesus was praying in a certain place, And then he finished. Now the Bible says pray without ceasing. How could Jesus possibly finish? Wasn't he praying all the time? Well, I'm glad you asked. There is a sense in which we should be praying in an attitude of prayer, living our lives tuned in to the reality of God's presence and seeking to be in communion with Him all the time. But we need also to have time set apart for prayer. When I pray before a meal, it's an expression of gratitude to God and a reminder to me that everything I have comes from Him. So it's right to pray before we eat. But after I've prayed and thanked God for the food, should I still continue to be grateful throughout the meal? Or is it like, no, I already thanked God, nevermind. No, this is an ongoing thing, but you still have time set apart for prayer. I recommend to you that you pray first thing in the morning. I recommend to you that you pray before every meal. I recommend to you that you pray before you go to sleep at night. And I recommend to you that you have other times through the day when you are especially reminded to pray. My dad always prayed every time we were going to go somewhere in the car. And when I was real little, I used to marvel at the fact that he could drive with his eyes closed. I mean, when he started praying, I'd close my eyes, so I figured he was doing what we always did at home, and that is you bow your head, close your eyes, and pray. Now, why do you close your eyes? Well, in order to be free from distractions. Well, so I just figured my dad was closing his eyes, and I asked him one day. I said, how do you drive with your eyes closed? And he said, oh, I don't. That was the first I knew that you could pray with your eyes open. Of course you can pray with your eyes open. You can look up at the stars and say, God, that's amazing. Thank you so much for making such beauty everywhere. This morning I got up, and when I looked out the window, the sky was just totally dark, totally dark. There was this cloud that was oppressive, and then coming up over the ridge, Behind the shoulder of Cove Mountain, the light began to dawn and chase away the darkness. And this section over here remained just this black cloud, but there was light coming up here. And I said, thank you, Lord. Thank you for the way that the light scatters the darkness. Thank you for the fact that you've built reminders of the truth all around us in creation. You and I, if we are in communion with the Lord, will be reminded over and over and over and over of his greatness and of his care for us. So Jesus was praying in a certain place, and then he finished that prayer, okay? It is okay to say amen and move on. He finished that prayer, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. Now, does that mean that these guys had never learned any prayers growing up? No, it doesn't mean that at all. Part of a good Jewish education was you learned how to talk to God. But they could tell there was something different about the way Jesus talked to God. And Jesus doesn't say, no, I'm sorry, this is just for me, it's a secret. Jesus taught them to pray. And the first thing he taught them was who it is that we're praying to. O great ruler of the universe, creator of all things, thou alone art almighty. That's all true. But Jesus said, I want you to know, when you pray, you're talking with our Father. The kind of prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is one that is predicated on, built on, relationship with the Father as our Father. In order for that to be the case, that is not true of all people everywhere. Jesus said to some people, your children of your Father are the devil. In order for this to be true, in order for us to pray this way, you need to have God as your father. How can that happen? Well, Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3, you have to be born again. You need a new birth. Nicodemus said, well, how can a man be Born again when he's old, he can't go a second time into his mother's womb. Jesus said, no, I'm not talking about that which is born of flesh, because that which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of spirit is spirit. You need to be spiritually reborn. You need new life from God. Sitting in a garage won't make you a car. Sitting in church won't make you a child of God. You need new birth. Well, I'm not sure I've been born again. Well, I know someone who can take care of that. Ask him, Lord, save me. Give me new birth. Do what needs to be done. I can't save myself. Please, God, have mercy on me. Save me. He will. He will. And that is the basis of the relationship that Jesus begins this prayer with. Father, hallowed be your name. Now, this has two aspects to it. First of all, God's name is hallowed. It is holy. It is set apart. It is above every other name. But we're not just acknowledging that God's name is holy when we pray this way. We are praying for God's holy name to be treated as holy. We want his name to be hallowed. There's a comedy channel on satellite radio that I sometimes listen to because some of the comics are absolutely hilarious and clean. But yesterday I was listening to a comic that I've enjoyed sometimes over the years and he kept taking the Lord's name in vain and I just had to turn it off. Why? Because I'm afraid I'm gonna start taking the Lord's name in vain? No, but he's talking about my Lord and he doesn't even know it. God's name is to be reverenced, hallowed, treated as holy. That's why OMG is not a good expression. much less if you expand it. That's why we need to be careful how we refer to God, because God is holy, holy, holy. And if you think that he's just the man upstairs, somebody up there likes me, you don't know who you're talking about. You need to know Him as your Father, and when you do, you're gonna know He's holy, and I want other people, therefore, to hallow His name, to treat His name as holy, and we need to pray for that. Your kingdom come. This is not because God's running for office. It's because This world is filled with people who are in rebellion against the one who is king. God is the ruler. Even when things are going hideously wrong and people are refusing to obey God, God is working out his purpose. Have you ever been attacked by a small dog? I got bitten by a dachshund once. They're not very big. I could have killed the dog easily. I was pulling him off of my German shepherd because he had just attacked my German shepherd for the third time. The first time that he ran out into the public street that we were on in Montreat years ago when I was in high school, The first time that he ran out into the street, he jumped up and grabbed hold of my German Shepherd right behind the front leg. And my German Shepherd reached back, pulled him off, shook him like this, and tossed him into the hedge. Now again, a German Shepherd has bite strength that is sufficient. He could have segmented that dachshund into three pieces. If he had just gone like that, it would have been the back part of the dachshund, the middle part of the dachshund, and the front part of the dachshund falling in three pieces on the road. I'm just telling you, that's what a German Shepherd can do. He didn't do that. He just pulled it out, shook it, and tossed it aside and continued to walk. Well, this crazy, nasty dachshund comes out of the bushes, runs up, and grabs him in the same place again. Now, understand this. In order to do that, the dachshund has to jump. He can't stand on the ground holding onto my dog. He's hanging from my dog like a nasty little leech. And my German shepherd reached back around, grabbed the dachshund, shook him, and threw him back into the hedge and continued to walk down the road. And the dachshund ran out a third time and jumped up and grabbed hold of my dog right here. And I reached down and pulled him off, and he bit me. So I threw him in the hedge. The owner by this time had come outside hearing her little precious and tried to lecture me about the fact that people with big vicious dogs like that shouldn't be allowed out. I explained to her as nicely as I could that her dog was the one that attacked my dog. We're on a public street, and I need to use your sink because your dog bit me, and I'm bleeding. She didn't apologize. She just carried little Precious back in the house. And I went in the house and washed my hand, wrapped it in a paper towel, and went outside thinking evil thoughts about dachshunds and their crazy owners. Now, why would I tell that long story? Because here's the thing. At no time during that entire episode did my dog feel threatened. Nor did I feel threatened. It was like, oh, there's a dachshund. No. That dachshund was very fortunate to still be alive. That dachshund was only living because of the kindness of my dog and me. Do you understand what I'm saying? Do you understand how that fits with thy kingdom come? We want God's rule and reign to be established in the earth. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let me tell you something, that's going to happen. God is working out his purpose and the current rebellion is a temporary thing that will not last forever. Those who persist in their rebellion against God will be thrown into the lake of fire along with Satan and all the demons. God is not hoping to overcome. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He doesn't just have more power than the devil. All power and authority belong to Him. So when we pray for His name to be hallowed, His kingdom to come, His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, that's guaranteed to happen. And not because we're praying it. We're just getting in step with what God has already declared and is going to do. And beloved, that's the purpose of prayer. Purpose of prayer is not to get God to do our thing. It is to get us in step with what God has told us in his word is his plan. That's what it's about. It's not, well, I want to learn how to pray so that I can make God do stuff. Uh-uh. Now, Jesus is going to talk about persistence in prayer. about continuing to ask and continuing to seek and continuing to knock. And he's gonna talk about the value of persistent prayer, but that's something God does in order to develop something in us. It's to grow us up. It's not because God is this, okay, I'll do it because you keep pestering me. But God wants us to learn. that when there are evil things happening, we're to be praying for his kingdom to come. We're to be praying for his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. And then he says, give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day our daily bread. Did these guys not have anything to eat? I mean, several of these guys were fishermen. They had food. So why are they praying for daily bread? Because you and I need to be reminded through prayer that we are entirely dependent on God. If you think, oh, I'll take it from here, then you're, that's just crazy thinking. You and I can't draw our next breath apart from him. And so, No matter how much food you've got in the pantry and how much food you've got in the fridge and how much money you've got in the bank, you need to remember when you pray that we are depending on God for today's provision. Father, I actually have enough for the next month as best I can calculate. But I'd appreciate it if, as I'm using up this month's, you'd send in next month's. That's not the attitude we're supposed to have. Well, is it OK to have food already laid aside for the next month? Yeah, you can have food laid aside for a year if you want. But you better know this. Apart from God, you won't live to eat it. Apart from God, the worms may get it. Apart from God, Somebody might come in and take everything you've got. The government might even do it someday. I'm telling you, if you are depending on God every day, then you don't have to worry about that. You don't have to worry about it at all. Because you know that God is the one who provides every day. And so whether you get it out of the pantry or a raven has to bring it to you. Doesn't matter. God's the source. These are just channels. Trying to think which story to tell you. Suffice it to say, I've been depending on God for a long time. And I've seen him over and over and over and over and over supernaturally provide. And every now and then, I start to depend on this channel and this channel as my main sources. And when I do, God has a wonderful way of taking one of them out. It's like, God, what are we gonna do now? Because that was where I got a third of my income. I mean, I know you're gonna take care of me, but I mean, you did see that, right? And you know what God does? Totally amazes me with some other source who knew nothing about any of this didn't know what my income was or where my income comes from or the fact that a third of it just went away. But God knew. And God promised he'd take care of me. And he does. He always keeps his promises. Amazing. Absolutely amazing. My wife and I, years ago on Cape Cod, Had some challenging things with our son's medical needs and other things that were happening. We had one winter we were renting a house and it was not well insulated. And one February, we spent more money on fuel for the heat than our rent was. Our rent was $500 a month. And we spent, I think it was over $600 just on fuel for that month, month of February. It was very cold that year. And here's what made it especially painful. The temperature in the house using all that fuel never, at any time, got above 65. And much of the time, it was under 60. Because the furnace is putting out heat, and the wind is taking it away. And I mean to tell you, it was a cold wind. I do not like sub-zero temperatures, except in the icebox. I just, you know, I like moderate temperatures. But we were having a challenging year. And as we did our finances, We realized, God, it looks like we're gonna need another $1,000. And I know that you've promised to provide, but we're doing the math here and it looks like we're gonna need another $1,000 coming up shortly. Would you please send us $1,000? That was our prayer. We prayed together. The Lord talks about two people agreeing is touching anything and it'll be done. So we prayed. We just agreed together that we're depending on God. Lord, please send $1,000. I know that we can count on you. Just a few days later, less than a week, we got a an envelope from a couple in Memphis, Tennessee. We'd never met the wife, but we'd met the husband about two years earlier, okay? And not seen those people since, or not seen him since. And the letter inside said, as my wife and I were having our devotions this morning, the Lord put you on our heart and told us that you needed $1,000. But since God told both of us, we weren't sure if we were supposed to just send $1,000 or if we were each supposed to send $1,000. So here's $2,000. Do you know what we found out? We needed $2,000. Our math was off. And God knew stuff we didn't know. And it turns out we were going to need $2,000, not $1,000. We didn't even know enough to ask God for the $2,000. We asked him for $1,000. God took care of the $2,000. That's who we're praying to. He's our Father. He's not a vending machine. He's not some impersonal thing that if you learn to push the right buttons, you can get what you want. This is our Father who loves us so much that He sent His Son to save us. You can count on Him. His name is holy. Treat it that way. Pray for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, because folks, that is perfection. and depend on him for whatever you need every day, and know that he already knows before you ask, and he'll take care of you. You can count on him, and therefore you can live without worry. Oh, where are we gonna get it? I don't know what the source, or what the channel will be, but I know who the source is. God will provide. Give us this day, each day, our daily bread. and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us." Guess what? That all goes together. It's not just, and forgive us our sins. Our forgiveness of others is inexorably linked, permanently and undetachably linked. to God's forgiveness of us. The reason that I can forgive others is in light of how God has forgiven me. Because nobody owes me like I owe him. Anybody who does something mean or bad or evil toward me, small potatoes compared to my sin against God. And so in light of the way God has forgiven me and the price he paid for my forgiveness, I am in no position to hold anything against other people. Okay, yeah, but they really did something that was evil. Yeah, yeah, they did. But I mean, it was, I mean, it really hurt me deeply. I'm sorry about that. But you've got to forgive them. You don't have to trust them. You don't have to like them, but you need to forgive them. But it really hurt, yeah. Not denying that, I'm just telling you, in light of what God has done for you, you need to forgive them, because God says so. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. Notice everyone who sins against us, not some of the people who sin against us. We forgive everyone who sins against us. Let it go, folks. Life is so much better and the load is so much lighter when you're not carrying around bitterness against other people. And Jesus actually says, you can read it in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel, that if you don't forgive others, your father doesn't forgive you. I don't like that. That makes it seem like God's forgiveness of me is dependent on my forgiveness of others. What are you going to do about it? You going to complain or are you going to obey? Because Jesus said, if you don't forgive others, God won't forgive you. Well, so just because I refuse to forgive that person, God's going to refuse to forgive me? Forgiveness is in the context of a relationship with Him as your Father. And if He's your Father and you want His kingdom to come and His will to be done, accept the part about me forgiving that person. That doesn't work. I want your will to be done. Oh, you want me to do what? No, I don't want to do that. Do you see where the contradiction lies? So when we're praying for His will to be done on earth, and He says, I want you to forgive this person, the only sane response is to say, well, please help me. And He will. Corrie ten Boom, who was the only member of her family to survive Nazi concentration camp, was approached after she had spoken about the love and grace of God by one of the guards who had so mistreated her and her sister. And he said, I've become a Christian. and I have asked God to forgive me, but I want to ask you to forgive me as well. And he reached out his hand toward her, and she said, I can't take his hand. This man was a monster. He tormented all of us, but my sister suffered so much at his hands. but I know God commands me to forgive. She said, Lord, I can't, but you can. Please help me. And she reached out her hand in the power of God and she took his hand and she was set free. Jesus commands us to pray this way. Forgive us our sins for we also Forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation. Well, read James 1, God doesn't tempt anybody. But the word there refers not just to temptation towards sin, it refers to testing, it refers to trials. God says we're gonna go through those. But Jesus says it's okay to pray, Lord, please, Please don't take me into hard times. Well, if we're praying that he won't, but he might still, how does that help? Well, it makes us like Jesus, who in the garden said, Father, if there's any other way, please let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. Are you willing to pray like Jesus? Do you want to be like Jesus? It'll involve a cross. You'll have to die to self every day. But if you pray this way, you will see the kingdom of God manifested here on earth and God's will being done and lives being transformed not the least of which will be yours. They asked him, Lord, teach us to pray. And he said, when you pray, not if you pray, when you pray, pray like this. God grant that we would do so. Father, we thank you so much for your amazing grace, for the love you've shown to us, which we did not deserve. We pray that you would help us to love you wholeheartedly, to meditate upon what you have done for us, and therefore be amazed and eager to do your will. And we ask this in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen.